Method of data gathering of user network

ABSTRACT

A method for collecting network usage data of a user in which access device in the network authenticates and authorizes the user, and an AAA server records the user&#39;s network resources information authenticated and authorized. IN addition, during network access a router records network usage information and sends the network usage information with UDP messages to an NSC, the NSC aggregates the collected network usage information, the association analysis server performs real-time association analysis for the aggregated network usage data and user network resource information uploaded from AAA server to obtain detailed network usage data of the user. The network usage data collected with the method according to the present invention is comprehensive and compact; the final network usage data can be oriented to users directly; and thus the method can meet the data demand of diverse applications, such as content accounting, destination IP accounting, real-time accounting, network monitoring, and user behavior analysis, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for collecting network usagedata for a user, which belongs to the technical field of computernetworks.

2. Description of the Related Art

As the Internet evolves increasingly, users of the Intranet, InternetService Providers (hereinafter referred to as ISP) and broadbandnetworks grow rapidly, the categories of network service are becomingprofuse, and network usage is gradually diversified. In such a case,operators and managers of network services demand to master user's usageof network resources in detail so as to implement more flexibleaccounting, plan reasonably, and manage and monitor network resourceseffectively.

Obtaining user network usage data in an efficient, accurate, andreal-time manner can be difficult. Presently, a typical solution is toconfigure a monitoring server, which collects the data related with theaddress, port, and traffic in Internet Protocol (hereinafter referred toas IP) messages forwarded via routers and, on that basis, performstatistical review and analysis to obtain network usage data of users.The flow is shown in FIG. 1.

Though detailed network usage data can be obtained by using a monitoringserver, that method has the following disadvantages:

1. The method requires an additional high-performance server; since thedata volume to be collected is vast, thus support of mass storagedevices is required, which increases networking cost.

2. The method can collect only network resource occupation data such asIP address and port number, but is unable to determine the users whooccupy the network resources. To support applications such as contentaccounting, further process is required.

3. The method is poor in real-time feature and thus cannot meet thedemand of real-time applications such as real-time accounting andreal-time monitoring.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed embodiments of the present invention provide a method forcollecting network usage data of a user, which uses association betweenNetStream technology and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service(hereinafter referred to as Radius) Protocol to achieve efficient andreal-time collection of network usage data of the user and provideessential data for network usage-based management and accounting.

The method for collecting network usage data of a user according to thepresent invention includes the following steps:

(1) An access device authenticating and authorizing the user, and anAuthentication, Authorization and Accounting Server (hereinafterreferred to as AAA server) recording the user's network resourceinformation that is authenticated and authorized;

(2) a router, during network access, recording network usageinformation, and sending the network usage information to a NetStreamCollector (hereinafter referred to as NSC) with User Datagram Protocol(hereinafter referred to as UDP) messages;

(3) the NSC aggregating the collected network usage information; and

(4) the association analysis server performing real-time associationanalysis for the aggregated network usage information and the user'snetwork resource information uploaded from the AAA server to obtaindetailed network usage data of the user.

The access device in the method is any one of LAN switch, access server,or IP phone gateway.

Step (1) in which an access device authenticates and authorizes the userand an AAA server records the user's network resource informationincludes the following steps:

(1) The access device sending the user's authentication andauthorization data to the AAA server;

(2) the AAA server analyzing and recording the user's authentication andauthorization data, and sending the control information of networkaccess permission to the access device;

(3) the access device allocating resources to the user and sending theuser's network resource information to the AAA server, which records theuser's network resource information; and

(4) the AAA server forwarding the user's network resource information tothe association analysis server in real time.

Wherein, the resources allocated by the access device to the userinclude: IP address, and start time and stop time of network access, aswell as bandwidth (optional). The user's network resource informationrecorded by AAA server includes: user's account number, start time andstop time of network access, IP address, network access location, andservice attribute.

In step (2) of the method, the network usage information recorded by therouter includes: source IP address, destination IP address, source portnumber, destination port number, number of bytes, and timestamp.

The association analysis in step (4) of the method is: matching the IPaddress and start time and stop time of network access in the user'snetwork resource information to the IP address and timestamp in thenetwork usage information, to determine the user corresponding to thenetwork usage information.

The advantage of the method for collecting network usage data of a useraccording to the present invention is: it will not affect network usagefor the user; in addition, due to the advanced design of NetStream, themethod will not degrade IP message forwarding rate; instead, it mayspeed up the forwarding rate in certain cases. Through aggregation,association, and analysis, the method associates isolated network usageinformation with the user's network resource information uploaded fromthe AAA server organically, so that it can collect the user's networkresource usage information in real time and record accurately useraccess to websites (IP addresses), services (port numbers), and durationand traffic in a certain time period. Furthermore, the network usageinformation collected with this method is comprehensive, and the data iscompact through aggregation; thus the method will not occupy vaststorage resources. The final network usage data created with this methodmay be oriented to users directly, to meet the data demand of diverseapplications, such as content accounting, destination IP accounting,real-time accounting, network monitoring, and user behavior analysis. Inaddition, the method is advantageous in real-time and can meet thereal-time demand of the majority of applications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a networking diagram of the commonly used method forcollecting network usage data presently; and

FIG. 2 is the networking diagram of the method for collecting networkusage data of a user according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention employs the networking solution 10 as shown inFIG. 2. Firstly, an access device 12 authenticates and authorizes a user14, and an AAA server 16 records the user's network resource informationauthenticated and authorized. Next, during network access, a router 18records network usage information, such as from the Internet 20, andsends the network usage information to an NSC 22 with UDP messages. TheNSC 22 aggregates the collected network usage information, and anassociation analysis server 24 performs real-time association analysisfor the aggregated network usage information and the user's networkresource information uploaded from the AAA server 16 to obtain detailednetwork usage data of the user 14.

The access device 12 in the method may be any one of LAN switch, accessserver, or IP phone gateway.

In the method, the process in which the access device 12 authenticatesand authorizes the user 14 and the AAA server 16 records the user'snetwork resource information is as follows: Firstly, the access device12 sends the user's authentication and authorization data to the AAAserver 16. Next the AAA server 16 analyzes and records the user'sauthentication and authorization data and sends the network accesscontrol information to the access device 12; the access 12 deviceallocates resources to the user 14 and sends the user's network resourceinformation to the AAA server 16, which records the user's networkresource information. The AAA server 16 forwards the user's networkresource information to the association analysis server 24 in real time.Wherein, the resources allocated by the access device 12 to the userinclude: IP address, and start time and stop time of network access, aswell as bandwidth (optional). The user's network resource informationrecorded by the AAA server 16 includes: a user's account number, starttime and stop time of network access, IP address, network accesslocation, and service attribute.

In the method, the network usage information recorded by the router 18includes: source IP address, destination IP address, source port number,destination port number, number of bytes, and timestamp.

The association analysis in the method includes matching the IP addressand the start time and stop time of network access in the user's networkresource information to the IP address and the timestamp in the networkusage information, to determine the user corresponding to the networkusage information.

All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications,U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applicationsand non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/orlisted in the Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein byreference, in their entirety.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, various modifications may be made without deviating fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is notlimited except as by the appended claims.

1. A method for collecting network usage data of a user, comprising thefollowing steps: (1) an access device authenticating and authorizing theuser, and an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting Server(hereinafter referred to as AAA server) recording the user's networkresource information authenticated and authorized; (2) a router, duringnetwork access, recording network usage information, and sending thenetwork usage information to a NetStream Collector (NSC) with UserDatagram Protocol messages; (3) the NSC aggregating the collectednetwork usage information; and (4) the association analysis serverperforming real-time association analysis for the aggregated networkusage information and the user's network resource information uploadedfrom the AAA server to obtain detailed network usage data of the user.2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the access device in step(1) is one of a LAN switch, an access server, and an IP phone gateway.3. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (1) in which the accessdevice authenticates and authorizes the user and the AAA server recordsthe user's network resource information comprises the following steps:(1) the access device sending the user's authentication andauthorization data to the AAA server; (2) the AAA server analyzing andrecording the user's authentication and authorization data, and sendingcontrol information of the network access permission to the accessdevice; (3) the access device allocating resources to the user andsending the user's network resource information to the AAA server, whichrecords the user's network resource information; and (4) the AAA serverforwarding the user's network resource information to the associationanalysis server in real time.
 4. The method according to claim 3,wherein in step (3), the resources allocated by the access device to theuser comprise an IP address, and a start time and a stop time of networkaccess.
 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein in step (3), theresources allocated by the access device to the user comprise an IPaddress, a start time and a stop time of network access, and bandwidth.6. The method according to claim 3, wherein in step (3), the user'snetwork resource information recorded by the AAA server comprises auser's account number, a start time and a stop time of network access,an IP address, a network access location, and a service attribute. 7.The method according to claim 1, wherein in step (2), the network usageinformation recorded by the router comprises a source IP address, adestination IP address, a source port number, a destination port number,a number of bytes, and a timestamp.
 8. The method according to claim 1,wherein the association analysis in step (4) comprises matching the IPaddress and a start time and a stop time of network access in the user'snetwork resource information to the IP address and the timestamp in thenetwork usage information to determine the user corresponding to thenetwork usage information.